My First Indie Author Event in San Francisco! SFINE

I am so excited to tell you all about my first ever "indie" author's event, SFINE! I am going to be at the Sheraton at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco on Saturday, June 15th from 12-4pm. OMG, can I just say I am so excited to be invited to such an amazing event! Colleen Hoover, Nyrae Dawn, Steph Campbell, and Jillian Dodd just to name a few of the 30 authors that will be there, with me! I can't wait to rub elbows with some truly talented writers!

Hey, but wait! Did I mention you're invited! Just go to the website,www.sfine.net and register (it's free). Then, come on down! I'd  love to meet some of my amazing Northern California readers and sign your books! If you don't have a copy of Wilson 1 or 2, don't worry, click HERE, scroll through to the last page and order a copy or two!

It has been an amazing time in my life and I can't wait to share it with all of you!

With Love,

Gretchen 

My First Author Interview!

So I've finally arrived! Okay, so maybe I was never gone....I had so much fun doing my very first author interview over at Smitten's Book Blog! Check it out! You might even get some insight to questions you have!

Check out the interview HERE!

Oh and there are another 2 WM book giveaways at www.smittensbookblog.wordpress.com!

Which reminds me!

Winner of the 2/14/13 drawing is...

Bianca from Downey, CA! 

Congratulations Bianca, email me at gretchen(at)gretchendelao(dot) com.

What's Next?

There are a lot of people asking me to write a separate story from Wilson Mooney series for the other supporting characters. They are asking about Nick, Joanie, and even Cindy! Yes people are asking to know more about what makes Cindy tick (if you can believe that!).

I guess it’s something that has become a trend when producing a series or novel (writing a novelette about secondary characters). It isn’t something that is off my radar; if the demand is there. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to introduce you to the other characters in the book.

But, I gotta tell you, I have lived with all the characters from the WM series for several years now. They have become an intrinsic part of my life. I used to find myself staring out the window, wondering what they are doing when I wasn’t writing their story. As a matter of fact, there were plenty of days I couldn’t wait to get back to them. I know how sexy and mesmerizing Wilson and Max can be. Heck, there were days when I wished they’d just come walking through my front door so I could find out what was going on in their lives when I was busy in the reality of mine.

But it is important that I take this opportunity and explain why I am ready to move on to the other stories that are banging against all the doors I keep shutting in my head, while I finish writing the 3rd book in the WM series.

My story of becoming an author isn’t rare or exciting. I sat down one day in December of 2008 and started to write a romantic sci-fi about a woman CIA agent who gets tangled in a situation beyond her control. It is a sexy, suspenseful, and an all around dynamic story of sex, murder, and betrayal. When I finished Prototype and started writing the sequel (Hindsight’s 20/20), out of nowhere, Wilson was born. The first couple of sentences of Wilson’s story came to me and from that day her words just flowed through me. Needless to say, I stopped writing Hindsight, the second book of the Prototype series, and focused on writing Wilson’s story.

Wilson Mooney, Almost Eighteen was written in 6 months. It took another 6-8 months to figure out what I was going to do with her story. In that time, I had tons of characters for other stories tiptoe and dance through my head. Stories I have fallen in love with as much as I did with Wilson and Max. Sure some are more sensual than others, some are heavy, while others are light and freeing, but all of them are so important to me and truly deserve my attention.

I would like to get Prototype out to the world soon! And with the help of my amazing editor Tiffany Grayson, it is becoming more of a reality for me. Thanks T!

And with that being said…

I know where I left you at the end of WM18@L…I know you are aching to read the third book in the series, and I totally understand that.

Please don’t panic…finishing WM3 my total priority.

I guess what I am saying is after WM3 is released, and I know that Wilson and Max are left in a sustainable state, they will be just fine with giving me their blessing to move onto other stories.

And when I do that…when you get to meet all the other totally amazing characters stomping around in my head…you’ll see why I am hesitant to commit to a novelette for the WM series. 

Thank you for being the MOST REMARKABLE fans and readers in the world!

Please don’t forget to share your love for Wilson and Max with your friends!

And like you did for me, take a chance on a new author, because there are some really talented writers out there!

With Love,

Gretchen

How Do I Explain?

OK, time for me to plaster my heart against the screen of your electronic devices. Just let me crack my chest open and pour out every last emotion that tries to cling to whatever is left dangling in my heart. What words can I say that would give you a glimpse into the pleated folds of my mind that nobody has ever seen before? I don’t know, maybe the possibility of speaking before I think of the ramifications, or in the attempt to keep my sacred moments locked away in my heart...I may appear distant or uninterested. 

If you only knew I am exploding inside, wanting to connect with every word, letter, email, and review. And the deep gratitude I feel for each person who has invested part of their life in Wilson and Max’s story.

Life is so precious, and how we spend it is so important. I am completely aware that what we do with our lives equates to how we end up spending our time. And in today’s world, I know that time is one of our most valuable commodities. A commodity that once spent, we can never get it back. We can’t ask for a refund or exchange it for something different.

Time is priceless, treasured, and irreplaceable; therefore, I truly understand the price you’ve paid to spend time with the characters that found their way through me and out into the world. Is there even a word in existence that can explain the emotion that swells through my body when I find out that someone has fallen in love with Wilson and Max? Possibly, but at this particular moment I can’t seem to find it.

Maybe it’s like when you see the man of your dreams and the spark it ignites deep within your heart. Or the unconditional, untainted love that saturates you when you see your child for the first time. This whole experience really does rank up there for me. When people give their time to my words, it is an indescribable feeling. A feeling I want to blurt out, share with everyone, and canvas the world with it; but it is so personal, so intense, and so awe-inspiring that to try and explain it seems almost too…limiting.

It is so powerful to feel people’s emotions. Every response I get from a reader about Wilson is poignant because they have taken their time to think, feel, and process the emotions that boiled to the surface of their life when they read her story. That resonates with me.

I can’t tell you what waits for me later today, tomorrow, or even the next. But I can tell you this…I am exceedingly grateful to all of the people in this world who have decided to share in the stories that swamp my head and pour out through my fingers. To those of you who have invested your treasure and time in my words—I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

With Gratitude,

Gretchen 

Okay, Let's just Visualize okay! Humor me!

Hello, Jennifer Lawrence as Wilson?

When A Spark Catches...

When a spark catches, a fire will blaze until its unstoppable flames consume without consideration. It is at this particular moment when we must decide if it is a blessing or a curse. We can either stand on the edge of a new opportunity grieving for what was lost or choose to celebrate the newly discovered possibilities.

When Wilson came to me several years ago, I didn’t know what she was all about. Some people told me that none of the big publishers would touch the story with a ten-foot pole. They thought the story was too taboo because it was about a girl and her teacher. But something inside me kept me writing it. The creative urge to tell her story was stronger than the mainstream belief that readers couldn’t handle the subject.

I knew that once people read the story, the whole idea of a student and a teacher would be an afterthought to the relationship of two young people who were falling in love with each other. It was so much more than the superficial, knee-jerk judgment of a naughty novel.

As I passed chapters to people who wanted to read Wilson’s story, I worked really hard to stretch out of the box of conventional thinking. If someone tried to stuff me back in the box, I would find the means to kick my way out. I guess I was too naïve to believe that stories like Wilson’s didn’t have an audience.

When I needed help, I would ask and opportunities would always show up. When I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing, I would stop and wait for the answers. When days turned into more days and doubt would creep into my head, I was fortunate enough to have people who would whack me upside the noggin for stopping mid-sentence and then give me positive strokes for continuing with my passion. It never took much to remind me why I was writing Wilson and Max’s story.

If there is anything I learned in the journey of bringing Wilson and Max to the world, it would have to be anything is possible. 

What mind can conceive, man can achieve.

Patience is truly the most rewarding attribute of seeing your dream unfold. When you feel like giving up, find every moment that sparks the creative energy in your heart and focus on that. When situations hurt your feelings, find something in that situation that helps you grow. Find the diamond buried in the huge mountain. And never forget, sometimes your ignorance of the worlds views will keep you alive and swimming when so many others are eaten by the sharks circling to swallow them whole.

**WM18@L Update**

I’m meeting with my beta readers Sunday! Whew, I can’t wait to hear what they have to say! Also, my editor is done with the book. She should have it to me in the next couple of days. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the first part of next week to see the progress on the cover from my graphic designer.

Lastly, I want to thank each and every one of you. I’m speechless and can’t think of any words to express how grateful I am to have all your support. You took a chance on an unknown author and bought my novel. That means the world to me. You’ve come back to my blog and Facebook page, checking in on my progress and I totally appreciate that. It’s funny to think, not too long ago Wilson’s story only existed in my head and now it’s out in the entire world, being shared!

With Overwhelming Gratitude,

Gretchen

Truth Filled Confession...

I know everyone is biting at the bit to get their hands on the second book (my editor cleverly refers to as WM18@L).

I want to tell you how much it means to me to have so many people who have invested their time and hearts in Wilson and Max. Being a new indie author, I’ve learned there are a lot of avenues I have to trudge through to figure out what is working or not in this adventure called self-publishing.

Everyone has been caring, fair, patient, and totally understanding. So I owe a fair and honest answer to the hundreds of people who peek in on the Wilson Mooney blog every couple of days, wanting to know when the second book will be available.

Trust me, I wish I could just have the book out tomorrow, and let you all live in Wilson’s head for a couple of days; but if I did that, it wouldn’t be a quality moment for you and your experience with Wilson and Max is very important to me. Especially now that they don’t just live in my head anymore; they don’t just belong to me anymore. 

So, I want to take a moment to tell you what is happening as of right now in the physical world of getting Wilson out to you!

**My editor is 90% done with edits to the book. She likes what she sees and that makes me feel good. She is on her second read through and should be done by sometime next week.

**My designer and I are working out visuals for the cover and I think we will be able to pin it down in the next week. I still have to get the back cover summary hammered out. But I think that shouldn’t take much.

**My biggest hurdle I keep dreading is the typesetting and uploading. I know the process has changed since I uploaded the first book. So here’s to hoping the process is dummy-proof for me!

 

**Amongst all of this, I am behind at getting a book trailer out for WM18@L. But a great musician is letting me use one of his original songs, for the book video! The creative process continues!

Gosh, I can’t tell you how overwhelmingly grateful I am to everyone who has worked on Wilson. I have very talented, selfless, giving people, who are invested in this process with me. Not to mention the readers who love the book and keep it alive via word of mouth.

It is very important to me that people who read WM18@L still feel the connection they had with the characters in the first book. 

Oh my God, the pressure of producing a sequel is totally crazy! There are readers who have read the book over and over again. So keeping the continuity from the first book into the second is pretty important. Also, when I wrote the first book I honestly didn’t know what to expect. Now I do!

So here I am, at the same spot on the Merry-Go-Round, reaching for that elusive gold ring that seems to be so close and yet keeps slipping out of my hand every time I reach for it. It’s a feeling of disappointment that I can’t allow myself to embody. What I want is to snatch the ring, push my feet down in the stirrups of the carrousel horse and thrust that ring into the air, hollering at the top of my lungs…“I did it!” That, yes, I have a hard date WM18@L will be available. But it seems so impossible to predict right now.

Truthfully, what it comes down to is…I don’t want to let my readers down (there I said it). If I give a date and the book isn’t ready…how crappy would that be? Pretty crappy! So that’s why I am keeping tight-lipped about throwing dates out regarding WM18@L’s release date.

But, I promise you, when I feel I’m close I will post it here on the blog, the Facebook Fan Page, which feeds it to Twitter, and on my website.

Thank you for coming back and checking in on me! I really do appreciate your interest and patience. And believe it or not, I truly know how hard it is to wait when you are left—wanting more.

With Gratitude and Respect,

Gretchen